Research aimed at developing new approaches to testing of complex intellectual processes occupies the forefront of psychology and education. Testing examines the ongoing research efforts into information processing techniques and measures by the military and academic research and development communities. Psychometricians, educational and cognitive psychologists, and personnel researchers will find this review of current testing literature a valuable and practical research tool. Leading experts and professionals from a variety of backgrounds focus on improvements in measuring broadly defined tests of aptitude and on innovations in measuring intellectual skill. Four main topics treated are: advances in testing; new methods of testing; new aptitude measures; dimensions of job performance.

This special issue is based on a workshop which began with a description and examination of the current National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) standard-setting model, then looked to standard-setting applications outside of education. These applications included those that focus on human performance and the adequacy of human performance; in these contexts, raters were asked to focus on the knowledge and skills that underlie competent performance. Researchers also examined applications that focus on the impact of environmental agents on life and the ecology; in these cases, raters began with the knowledge that more (or less) of a substance is better and, as for NAEP, the judgment task was to determine "how good is good enough." They wished to examine parallels in the objectives, empirical grounding, judgmental requirements, and policy tensions for standard setting in NAEP and in other domains. These papers were commissioned to examine the current state of affairs and residual issues with respect to achievement-level setting in NAEP and to help determine whether the models and methods used in other disciplines have useful application to education. It is important to note that the papers represent the authors' views, not necessarily those of the committee or National Research Council. This issue and the workshop discussion point out a number of analogies between the objectives, requisite data, judgment requirements and policy issues for NAEP and other applications. The editors hope that this issue and wide distribution of these papers will prompt others to join in this interesting analysis and debate.

Instruction highlights the ongoing research of military and academic communities--research aimed at developing new approaches in the instruction of complex intellectual processes and skills. Representative work includes learning procedural tasks and learning text comprehension processes in various environments such as computer-managed instructional settings. A variety of technological factors relevant to developing training materials for computerized environments is also presented. In addition, new domains such as learning map interpretation skills are included. This major collaborative effort was supported by the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center in San Diego, California.

Researchers from major military personnel research organizations and universities contributed to this volume. The essays study: student cognitive attributes and performance in a computer-based instructional setting; factors in retention of procedural tasks; experimental investigation of text comprehension in bilinguals; functional context theory; literary and electronics training; problem solving in technical domains; motivation, learning, and prescriptions for change; teaching interpretive skills; training analysis and design for complex aircrew tasks; and implementation of instructional system development in the U.S. Army. This book will be invaluable to educators in the academic and military worlds.